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*Disclaimer- this post comes from the personal side of me, not the business side. As a small business owner, we acknowledge the holidays earlier to provide you all with deals, savings & the chance to start shopping.I'll discuss how that's acceptable, I promise!*

I mean, I look at a calendar, and from what I understand is that Thanksgiving which happens in the grand month of November comes before Christmas in December.

Am I not correct?

It drives me absolutely wild how year after year Christmas creeps up on us earlier and earlier. Some stores have the nerve to put up Christmas trees as early as August. It's ridiculously obnoxious.

This is the first reason it bothers me so much. Everybody complains about time and if you claim you don't- you're lying. I am constantly hearing how people say how time flies and apparently when you have kids it goes even quicker. I am always saying, holy crap, how is it already the fall? People are always saying oh man, I wish I had more time for that project, or for my homework or to spend with my kids. Or I don't have any time to paint the walls in my house or to start that kitchen upgrade.

If we are always complaining about the lack of time, then why are we trying to skip over holidays, months & an entire season? Why are we constantly anticipating the next thing instead of enjoying what's happening right in this very moment?

The way I look at it, is people forget that summer goes until September 21 every year, but once school season hits, it's magically fall and the countdown until Christmas begins. But we're skipping over Halloween & Thanksgiving without a blink of an eye. So if you start your Christmas countdown before summer even ends, or before the month of December rolls around, stop complaining about time flying by.

The bigger reason it bothers me is that people glaze over Thanksgiving. It's right in the holiday name, the word thanks. Thanksgiving is the day we should recognize a little more than we should on a daily basis all we have in our life. It shouldn't matter how wealthy you are or where you live. What should matter is we find the people, the memories, the opportunities, the privileges, the pets and so on that we are thankful for in our lives. These are the people or animals or things that put a smile on our face or the things we really can't imagine living without.

Why are we skipping being excited about this holiday? I have found in my time, that the people who don't have a lot materialistically are the ones who are some of the most genuinely thankful & appreciative people. I don't know why that is.

I find it hard sometimes to acknowledge the great things in my life that I'm thankful for because sometimes the world brings me down. But I'm thankful I'm healthy, I'm thankful I have this incredible support system around me, I'm thankful I've had so many privileges including the opportunity to go to college or something as simple as to vote. I'm thankful to be employed full time and I'm thankful I have the drive to run a small business. I'm thankful that I'm able to express my opinions freely, I'm thankful for my sense of humor & optimism.

Growing up, my mother always asked us what we wanted for Christmas right after my birthday in August. She would shop as she saw things throughout the fall which makes sense. But we were never brought up to even really think about Christmas until Black Friday rolled around. We didn't talk much about it, we didn't decorate, we forgot our mom was even doing secret Christmas shopping. We never went to find our presents because we didn't care. We were always encouraged to focus on each day, to focus on school or softball or dance. We were encouraged to help people because making a positive difference in the world is what matters most.

Once Thanksgiving was over, we didn't even really jump into Christmas. We did go Black Friday shopping most years, and we wouldn't get our tree until almost Christmas. We waited for everybody to be home from college because the tradition was that we all picked out one each year together & then named it. We didn't begin to acknowledge any Christmas tradition until at least December rolled around (aside from Black Friday).

While we're on the topic of holiday shopping, like I said in the disclaimer, the small business side of me does acknowledge Christmas pretty early. Now, don't go calling me a hypocrite yet! The reason I begin to get into the holiday season earlier, is mainly because our items are handmade, we need time. T-shirt quilt deadlines are before November event begins because by the time you order, ship the shirts to me, I create it & ship it back; it can take a couple of weeks.

So as a small business owner who wants everybody to get their holiday shipments on time, we definitely take into account that we can't begin talking about Christmas on December 1! But that's only the small business owner side, not my personal side!

What I hope the takeaway here for you reading, is to stop & pause and realize that we should be a little more in the moment, we should be recognizing the wonderful things we have in our life & we should slow down a little bit. Enjoy the fact that summer goes through September, that Halloween is so much fun, that Thanksgiving is beautiful and then comes Christmas, a time for celebration!

We always wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas. It does seem like time flies quickly when we are focusing on end of the year celebrations for 3 months. As a mom of two, my time flies quick enough as it is, cherishing my time and paying attention to each day helps to slow things down and just enjoy the moment :)

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My name is Kristina and I'm the founder of Love Struck. Read about how Love Struck came to be, see how I make it happen or just read a random thought I just might have! Anything can happen at our blog & I wouldn't have it any other way! It's time to get Love Struck, and what better way to start than right here!